Farmers and gardeners, especially those with slow maturing corn or tomatoes, have enjoyed perhaps one of the warmest Septembers in Minnesota history.

Miraculously for Minnesota crop producers, many areas of the state made it to the end of September without a severe frost. Some areas in the central and most in the southern parts of the state have escaped a killing frost so far.

The Staples area, however, is right at the dividing line.

After a streak of 20 consecutive days with above normal temperatures (and very little moisture) September ended with a cold snap that brought the first frost to many northern Minnesota areas.

The strong cold front the last two days of the month ushered in a spell of below normal temperatures for Sept. 28- 30. While some central Minnesota areas received frost, most weather reporting stations in west central Minnesota recorded lows just slightly above freezing. Morris had 33, Becker 33, Hutchinson 35, St. Cloud 34, Staples 34 and Aitkin 33.

Below 32 readings included Crookston 31, Itasca 30, Hibbing 23 and Hinckley 30.

According to Mark Seeley, U of M state climatologist, September of 2009 will be among the top five warmest in Minnesota history, falling just shy of the warmth measured in 1897, 1908 and 1931.

September also ended as the 14th driest in Minnesota history with a statewide average precipitation of about 1.50 inches. Some individual observers certainly reported one of the driest Septembers in local history including Willmar with 0.41 inches, St Cloud with 0.61 inches, Forest Lake with 0.57 inches and Grand Rapids with 0.59 inches.

The Oct. 5 weekly crop report from the USDA Minnesota Field Office found fall harvests were slowed late last week due to the signifi cant rainfall, beginning Thursday and running into Saturday.

According to the USDA, soybean harvest advanced to 19 percent harvested, 22 points slower than last year and average. Soybean harvest progress had been two points behind 2008 in the previous reporting period.

Sugarbeets were 23 percent harvested by week's end, compared to 34 percent last year and 29 percent average. Other crops being harvested made progress early in the week.

Dry beans were 70 percent harvested while potatoes were 74 percent complete. Canola harvest was nearly complete at 99 percent, while sunflower harvest was underway at 10 percent complete.

Statewide, 4.1 days were suitable for fieldwork last week.

Cor n development reached 37 percent mature or beyond compared to 66 percent last year and 77 percent average. Corn condition was rated 72 percent good to excellent, up two points from last week.

Early corn harvest was underway in isolated areas in the southern parts of the state.

Rainfall last week ranged from 0.27 inch below normal in the Northeast District to 1.89 inches above normal in the West Central District. The greatest weekly total of 3.31 inches was recorded in Collegeville.

Some sample precipitation and temperatures for the week ending Oct. 4, included:

Morris a high of 67, low of 33, with 2.51 inches of rainfall; Becker a high of 71, low of 33 and .80 moisture; Hutchinson high of 71, low of 35. 2.39 precipitation; Melrose high 63,low 34, 2.62 precip.; Staples high of 67, low 34, with 1.93 inches of precip.; and Aitkin high of 64, low of 33; 1.78 inches of precipitation.